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Estate agent Imran Haidar |
Neighbourhood police who insist:
Phone, don’t drop in
It’s crazy, says trader plagued by shoplifters in road where officers are based
CRIME-hit traders at Highbury Corner have a police office just yards away but they have been told they must phone – rather than ring its front- door bell – when they want to report incidents.
Although three Safer Neighbourhoods Police teams, consisting of 18 officers, are based at the office in a parade of shops in St Paul’s Road, it is not open to the public.
Newsagent Mahendra Oza, 76, whose shop is just a few doors from the police office, has had to call officers out on a number of occasions. But he complains that when he rings for a Safer Neighbourhoods officer he invariably gets an answer phone message.
The issue is to be raised at a meeting on anti-social behaviour and litter, which will be attended by traders, police and Lib Dem deputy council leader Councillor Terry Stacy.
Mr Oza, a grandfather, said: “The police from next door will come out to help me, but they are reluctant about it. They keep saying I should phone or contact the main police station in Upper Street. The whole thing is crazy.”
To combat shoplifting, Mr Oza has banned groups of more than two young people from his shop.
“The children are the worst,” he said. “They come into the shop shouting and swearing. I caught a group of five girls aged about 12 trying to steal from my shop. When I tried to shoo them out one slapped me around the face.
“I’ve been here 30 years and I remember when Highbury Grove, for example, was a grammar school. In those days children were well behaved and polite. Today some are uncontrollable.”
A police spokeswoman explained that the office for Canonbury, Mildmay and Highbury East Safer Neighbourhoods Police teams was not open to the public.
“Obviously, if there is an incident then someone will come out,” she said. “But there is no front counter. Normally, if it’s an emergency you ring 999 or if you want to speak to a police officer in person you go to one of the open police stations at Holloway or Upper Street.
“Otherwise you should ring for a Safer Neighbourhoods officer, who will get back within a short period of time.”
Another problem for the area, according to traders, is the proliferation of all-night food shops allowed to sell alcohol.
At a licensing committee meeting at the Town Hall last week, estate agent Imran Haidar objected unsuccessfully to a shop being able to sell alcohol all night.
Mr Haidar, director of London Move at Highbury Corner, said there were already about five shops within a quarter of a mile able to sell alcohol all night.
“We get drunks and beggars who ruin the area and intimidate my staff,” he said. “Friday and Saturday are the worst for anti-social behaviour. It includes people vomiting or urinating outside our shop.
“Then there’s litter that continually gets blown about, and graffiti. It all gives the area an atmosphere of sleaze.”
Across the road another estate agent, Mujtaba Arif, welcomed the meeting about anti-social behaviour.
“We’ve put up with awful conditions around here for too long,” he said. “I can’t stand the rowdy behaviour. Several times I’ve put myself in danger by going out to break up fights between young people.”
Mr Arif, manager at Living Space estate agents, said he would like to see more police on patrol.
He added: “But most of all I would like to see the area made more welcoming. We’ve got about three pay-and-display bays for the area. It’s not enough.
“We’re bringing customers and wealth to the borough but there is nowhere for anyone to park.
Cllr Stacy said: “I’m more than willing to discuss how the council can resolve these problems. And I know the police Safer Neighbourhoods team feel the same.”
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